The Lord of Spines
by reptilia28
Summary: Jim Raynor tries to rescue Kerrigan on Tarsonis, but things go horribly wrong and he gets captured by the Zerg. How shall the Starcraft story unfold when it is introduced to a new player: Raynor, Lord of Spines? DISCONTINUED
1. Belly of the Beast

This is my second Starcraft fic, planning to be co-written with a friend of mine, ViolentY2Kplus7. Since our actual chapter distribution strategy is still in the works, expect updates to be fairly slow.

Rating may go up in the future due to violence and/or language.

Neither of us owns Starcraft or Blizzard. I have no money, and I doubt that he does either, so don't sue us.

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Prologue – Belly of the Beast

"Everyone, prepare to leave Tarsonis airspace on my mark," the voice of Arcturus Mengsk rang throughout the fleet's communications array.

"What?!" Jim Raynor, captain of the battle cruiser _Hyperion_ interjected. "We're just going to leave her there?"

"Her sacrifice is regrettable, but we cannot afford the manpower to launch a rescue mission," Mengsk responded. "Now prepare to enter warp space." As the remainder of the fleet drifted into position to leave Tarsonis, Raynor shook his head.

"Screw this," he said to himself before turning to a random ensign. "Ensign, take us down."

"Aye, captain," the ensign said as he entered the coordinates to take them back to the planet. Meanwhile, Raynor ran to the communcations panel and pressed a button.

"Hold tight, Sarah, we're comin' for you," Raynor assured the Ghost operative currently fighting back the Zerg on the planet.

"Make it quick, Jimmy, we're getting ripped apart down here!" Sarah Kerrigan's voice responded, the signal crackling. As Raynor breathed a sigh of relief, Mengsk's voice snapped him back to attention.

"Marshall Raynor, what are you doing?" the Sons of Korhal leader snapped testily.

"Fuck you, Mengsk, I'm not leaving her down there," Raynor before deactivating his communications channel. He squinted his eyes as the atmosphere glowed brightly from the friction of descent.

The Hyperion flew to the coordinates where Kerrigan's strike force was situated to see that most of the structures had been destroyed, and only a handful of marines, a siege tank and Kerrigan herself remained. As the _Hyperion_ hovered above them, firing at the Zerg below, a single dropship, escorted by a fleet of Wraiths flew down to pick up the survivors. The wraiths flew around the dropship, shooting down Zerg Mutalisks that attempted to destroy the dropship.

The dropship touched down and Raynor, along with three Marines ran out to lay down cover fire for Kerrigan. An explosion shook them as the last siege tank was destroyed.

"Sarah!" Raynor yelled, firing his gauss rifle at the wave of Zerglings running over the ramp. "Sarah, we've got to go!" Raynor heard a scream behind him, and he turned around to see the pilot for the dropship with several spines sticking out of her body, the windshield shattered. A loud explosion erupted above them, and he looked up to see the _Hyperion's_ engines explode and watch it drift to the ground helplessly.

The Zerg onslaught pushing them together, Raynor and Kerrigan stood back to back, firing wildly at the alien monsters before them.

"How much ammo you got left?" Raynor asked, loading a magazine into his rifle.

"Five rounds," Kerrigan answered. "You?"

"Last mag," Raynor admitted sullenly as he fired a hail of bullets at the Zerg legions. "This is not how I wanted to die," he groaned as his ammo counter continued to decrease. The wall of Zerg separated to make way for two large Hydralisks. Raynor and Kerrigan took aim and pulled the triggers of their weapons, but they responded with only hollow clicks. The Hydralisks bent down their heads and shot a single barbed spine into their abdomens. Raynor felt his eyelids grow heavy, his grip growing slack, and he collapsed to the ground, slipping into unconsciousness.

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As the Zerg watched the two humans collapse, the simple-minded Zerglings shifted anxiously.

"_What shall we do with these two humans? Shall we eat them?_" one Zergling chittered in the Zerg tongue. One of the Hydralisks snarled at the smaller Zergling, annoyed.

"_We shall bring these two to the Cerebrate, as per our orders, pathetic wretch_," the Hydralisk growled. The Zerg lifted the two prisoners into the ventral sacs of a nearby Overmind, which drifted slowly to the large, maggot-like Zerg Cerebrate of the massive Jormungand Brood.

_**What shall we do with these humans, my lord?**_ The Cerebrate asked the Zerg Overmind through its psionic link.

_**Infest the female**_, the Overmind responded, scanning their minds. _**Her psi is strong; she will serve us well when we lay siege on the Protoss**_.

_**And the male?**_ The Cerebrate asked as Drones began to drag Kerrigan's unconscious form away.

_**Kill him**_, the Overmind responded automatically. A Hydralisk slithered up to Raynor and raised its scythe-like arm. As it was about to bring it down, the Overmind's voice arose again. _**Wait. I have seen into their minds, and what I have seen intrigues me. The male's psionic potential is almost nonexistent, but he shares another link with the female, a link I am unfamiliar with. Perhaps...perhaps together, they will operate greater than they ever could alone. Infest him as well.**_ More Drones appeared to tear off Raynor's bulky armor and drag his body to an Overlord._** Together, they shall lead the Broods to battle against the Protoss, and soon even they shall tremble before the overwhelming might of the Swarm.**_

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So, there's the prologue. What do you think?

I'll be talking to ViolentY2Kplus7 over XBL in a few days, so hopefully a new chapter will appear soon.

Don't forget to read and review!


	2. Lord of Spines

Sorry it's taken me so long to update. It's rather hard to think up a chapter when the only objective left is to hop over the cliff and annihilate the enemy base. As such, this will be another painfully short chapter.

I don't own Blizzard or Starcraft. Neither does ViolentY2kPlus7. I am sad. I don't know about him.

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Chapter 1 – Lord of Spines

For what felt like an eternity, Jim Raynor drifted aimlessly in the void. No voice, no body, no mind, he simply _existed_. As he floated in the darkness, however, he felt something; two minds linked to his own. One exerted authority over him, absolute control, like an invisible puppeteer. But the other...the other was different. It felt familiar; it felt soothing.

_**It is time to awaken, my child**_, a voice boomed from the void, surrounding Raynor. _**Awaken, and bring down the wrath of the Eternal Swarm down upon our foes. Rise, my son, my Lord of Spines!**_ With a roar that would chill the spines and rattle the bones of all those who would hear it, Raynor burst free from his chrysalis in an explosion of blood and ichor.

He observed his surroundings, looking at the twisted, fleshy monuments of the Zerg colony in morbid fascination. Raynor looked down at his own body, and saw that his flesh was a sickly mixture of green and yellow, with thick plates of rough, spiny chitin covering his body like armor.

Raynor felt something hard in his right arm, and clenched his muscles, extending a long, sharpened spine to extend from under the armor on his arm. He looked to his left and saw three small holes on his armor. He aimed at a random Zergling digging around and clenched his muscles; three globs of acid shot out of his arm and struck the Zergling. He watched in morbid fascination as the Zergling screeched in pain as the acid ate away its flesh.

_**I understand that you are young**_, a voice snapped irritably within Raynor's mind, _**but in the future, I would appreciate it if refrained from killing my minions**_. Rolling his eyes, Raynor's gaze shifted to another figure standing a few meters away from him. Like himself, her skin was a sickly amalgamation of green and yellow, but instead of being heavily armored like himself, she seemed mostly human, except for the two large wing-like claws extending from her back. Raynor grinned as the memories of her identity drifted back into his mind.

"Lookin' good, Sarah," he said. Kerrigan turned to him and cocked an eyebrow at him.

"I can't say the same for you, Jim," she responded flatly.

_**Have you acquainted yourselves with your new forms?**_ Raynor and Kerrigan nodded their heads as the voice of the Overmind rung in their minds.

"We have, Father," the both replied automatically.

_**Excellent**_, the Overmind said. _**I will leave you in the capable hands of the Cerebrate who has so diligently guarded you during your metamorphosis within your chrysalises. Soon, you will become wise and powerful enough to lead entire Broods into battle effectively. Until then, heed the advice of my Cerebrates, for they are far more experienced in warfare than you.**_ Raynor and Kerrigan felt the presence of the Overmind receding from their minds, replaced by the Cerebrate nearby.

_**Greetings, I am Cerebrate Araq**_, the worm-like entity introduced itself to the two infested Terrans. _**We do not know the status of the Terran presence past the cliff. What do you suggest we do to rectify that?**_ Both Raynor and Kerrigan pondered the question, but Raynor, with his past as a soldier, reached a conclusion first.

"Take an expendable unit, like a Scourge, and send it as deep into the enemy territory as possible," he answered.

_**Very well**_, Araq said, and ordered the three Larvae lurking near the Hive to cocoon themselves and mutate into six Scourge. Several minutes later, the cocoons ruptured, and six small, shrieking Scourge fluttered above the colony. _**Now, order them to their destination**_, Araq instructed. Kerrigan psionically linked with the Scourge and directed them to the northeast of their position, where the Terran base was. With a shriek, the suicide units flew in the direction they were instructed.

As soon as they passed the edge of the cliff, they were fired upon by missile turrets, destroying two of the flyers. They flew into the heart of the base, where the main command center stood, surrounded by turrets and various anti-air defenses, including Wraith fighters and Goliath walkers. The four remaining Scourge charged at the Wraiths, but only one managed to reach its goal and destroyed one of the fighters, sending it crashing to the ground.

Kerrigan shuddered as the information was retrieved and distributed across the colony.

_**Interesting**_, Araq said as he analyzed the new information. _**What is your next course of action?**_ Raynor thought for a moment, then pointed to a Zerg Drone struggling to wrench a piece of mineral off of the main crystal formation.

"You there," Raynor said sharply, "go over there and create a new Hatchery." The Drone hissed in acknowledgement, and crawled over to its designated position and cocooned itself before turning itself into another extension of the colony.

_**What is your strategy, Lord of Spines?**_ Araq asked as the Hatchery developed.

"Simple: we create a fleet of Mutalisks, and send them right to the heart of the base and destroy their command center," Raynor explained.

**_A crude strategy,_** Araq stated, unimpressed. _**Time will tell whether it is effective or not**_.

Over an hour had passed before Raynor had amassed a fleet of thirty-six Mutalisks, blotting out the sun as they filled the sky. Raynor linked with them and directed them to attack the command center, ignoring all other threats. With a shriek, the swarm of Mutalisks flew past the missile turrets and over the goliaths, firing wave after wave of their deadly glaive wurms into the Terran structure, where the tiny parasites burrowed and continued to destroy the building from within. Many of the Mutalisks fell to the merciless onslaught of missiles, but they persevered, and soon the command center collapsed on itself as the last Mutalisk perished. The attack was not over however, as a fresh wave of the flying beasts swooped over them, slaughtering the Terran SCV's so that a replacement could not be constructed. Lost and confused, the Terrans were easy prey for the Zerg ground forces.

A Marine saw Raynor stalking towards him and fired wildly, but the bullets merely ricocheted off of Raynor's thick armor. The Zerg lord extended his spine and ran the Marine through before throwing the corpse aside. He heard a beeping behind him, and turned around in time to see a Goliath collapse as an invisible force destroyed the hydraulic joints in its legs. Grinning at Kerrigan's stealth abilities, Raynor continued to destroy the Terran forces one by one.

When the carnage settled and the last Terran slaughtered, Araq spoke to Raynor and Kerrigan once more.

_**Excellent work**_, the Cerebrate said. Raynor had a feeling that if the Cerebrate had hands, it would be applauding them right now. _**You two need to improve your ability to lead smaller armies of powerful units effectively, but you have emerged victorious with mere strength of numbers, the main tactic of the lesser Zerg races. Congratulations, I am impressed. Now let us leave this desolate rock**_. As the Zerg began piling into Overlords and other races specifically bred for transport, Raynor looked at Kerrigan.

"That was fun," Raynor said, flicking a piece of flesh off of his arm.

"Indeed," Kerrigan said, her voice emotionless. _Even as a Zerg, she's wound too tight_, Raynor thought sourly as they climbed into an Overlord. _The woman needs to learn to relax_. He shook his head as he felt the Overlord lift off and bring them out of the planet's atmosphere and into deep space.

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Well, what do you think?

I've told ViolentY2kPlus7 that the next chapter is his, so we'll see how long it takes to crank the next chapter out.

Don't forget to read and review!


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